Estonia invites municipalities to apply for grants to promote establishment of wind farms

TALLINN – The Estonian Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture and the State Shared Service Center have issued a call for local authorities to apply for funding from a measure that helps them hire necessary specialists and commission necessary studies to speed up the establishment of wind farms.

The applications can be submitted until the end of this year, while the deadline for using the money has been extended by three months until the end of March 2026, the ministry said on Tuesday.

Each municipality can apply for up to 200,000 euros from the measure to organize the preparation of a spatial plan for the deployment of wind generating assets and to resolve legal issues related to the preparation and processing of the initial design terms, construction and operating permits for wind energy. Grants can be requested on several occasions in the maximum amount of 200,000 euros, and no own contribution is required from the municipality. When the spatial plan has been endorsed, the municipality will receive an additional 50,000 euros.

On Aug. 19, Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman signed an amendment extending the deadline for the implementation of the projects by three months until March 31, 2026. The minister said the change was made at the request of municipalities in order to give them confidence that there will be enough time to conclude all the necessary activities.

"I call on the municipalities planning wind farms to apply in order to achieve the implementation of their plans with the help of competent specialists and the necessary surveys. The grant can only be applied for until the end of this year, so it is worthwhile for local governments to hurry," she said.

To date, 19 municipalities have received grants under the measure, including the northeastern municipality of Lüganuse. Anu Horn, head of the development and spatial planning service of the Lüganuse rural municipality administration, said that Lüganuse has submitted two applications.

"We submitted our first application in the spring of 2023, largely encouraged by Hendrikson DGE, the company preparing our new comprehensive spatial plan and a good partner. In the ongoing process for the comprehensive spatial plan, it was necessary to clarify the conditions for the areas suitable for wind energy development, to identify the associated impacts more precisely, and to discuss the spatial plan with the public again. We received a substantial financial grant under the measure, which allowed us to take the necessary steps," Horn explained.

The second application was submitted to hire a spatial planning specialist.

"It is common knowledge that it's difficult for small municipalities to hire a spatial planning specialist, and there are certainly different reasons for this. The main obstacle is the low competitiveness of the salary offered, which depends on the amounts available in the local government's budget. We owe a lot to this subsidy measure when it comes to eliminating this obstacle," Horn added.

The call is funded from the budget of NextGenerationEU, the European Union's recovery instrument.